I am wondering if there is anyone else out there who has a sluggish thyroid and who finds that they have to workout TWICE as much as others just to lose half of what they lose? This has been my problem for decade or so. It seems like it takes my metabolism months longer to start really churning than it does my friends, even when I am exercising more and eating better than they are. Then as soon as I stop exercising, BAM it is all back on within a month or so. Frustrated about the yo-yo-ing I guess. Any suggestions? I mean, I walk/jog and do lunges/squats 3-5 days a week. I only consume about 1400-1500 cals per day and still no weight loss. I am fairly active, running after 5 children. Also, I am only 5 pounds overweight, so not too much left to lose, I have already lost 30 pounds and have plateaued. Or, am I being vein in wanting to lose those last vanity pounds?

There are several things that you need to look at, for starters your diet, which you already started looking into. I know a couple of tricks that may help you. Start by reducing calories by filling yourself up with protein, vegetables, whole grains, and replacing bad habit snacks with good ones. A good way to replace sugar could be taking a Muscle Milk lite, it has zero sugar and a ton of protein that will satiate while also torching my sugar craving. A good trick is a sprinkle of cinnamon in your morning coffee or oatmeal, the spice will help stabilize blood sugar. It also slows the rate at which food exits the stomach, which helps you feel fuller longer.

Get some vitamin C to help balance the cortisol spikes that happen to you under this stress and will also makes carnitine, a compound used by the body to turn fat into fuel, this will help you burn fat faster. Try bell peppers, kale or kiwi fruits. These have even more Vitamin C than orange juice.

Your body will still need some type of fat intake though. It’s sugar that gets you fat, not the 'fat' that you eat. Good fats include foods rich in Omega 3′s, like salmon, avocados & walnuts. These foods are full of nutrients as well.

Avoid “white” carbohydrates - bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length.

Eat the same few meals over and over again. You could mix and match from these groups of foods:Proteins: Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor, Chicken breast or thigh, Grass-fed organic beef.

Don’t drink calories. Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened iced tea, tea, diet sodas(no soda at all preferably), coffee (without white cream), or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Stay away from milk, normal soft drinks, or fruit juice. One glass of wine each evening, which I believe actually aids sports recovery and fat-loss. Theres some studies supporting that.

You can maybe take one day off per week to indulge on food you may like.

Get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. People who get less than 5 hours of shuteye a night have higher levels of ghrelin, which increases appetite, and decreases leptin, the protein hormone that tells you when you’re full. Sleep is vital to keeping your weight in check.

For exercises, start by doing short, intense exercises that focus on full-body movements—like squats with biceps curls, reverse crunches, leg raises, fast crunches, sec lunges, mountain climbers, wide grip push up, reverse lunges, close grip push ups, cross crunches. Important thing is to do some cardio, like jumping jacks, rest for 30 secs, then do 5 to 6 of those exercises for 20-30 secs without resting in between them.